How to Choose the Best Party Dresses for Your Complexion

Ready to freshen up your wardrobe with a few party dresses? Before you hit the mall or pull up your latest online store, stop to make sure you're buying dresses in your color.

Not your favorite color, even though that can be one of your deciding factors, but a color thatcomplements the tonesalready in your skin.

A lot of us tend to stick to colors that are neutral and easy, which is why it's such a breath of fresh air when we see someone playing with really bright, unusual colors. Playing with color is a gamble - you're either going to look fantastic with the right color, or the wrong color will make you look like you're on death row.

The best colors for you can be hard to figure out at first, which is why most people settle for "black looks good on everyone."

Don't settle for good, though. You want to find a color that will make you look great.

Finding party dresses in your color will make you the center of attention when you walk into any room. Read on to find out how.

Why Is Knowing Your Color So Important?

Okay, you might be wondering. Why exactly is knowing my color so important? Can't I just find a dress that fits me well?

Technically, yes, you can. But you won't look your best that way.

In theory, you could buy a dress in any color that's tailored to show off your body, and you'll end up with a gorgeous silhouette. The difference will be in how the dress sets off your skin tone.

Party dressesin the right colors will flatter your skin tone. Believe it or not, this makes a vast, easily visible difference.

A good color can make you look bright, healthy, and vibrant, without needing a shred of makeup on your face. It will bring out the undertones in your skin in a way that gives you a natural glow.

Think of it as a way to highlight the beauty already in your skin.

The wrong color, on the other hand, can make you look washed out, ashy, or sick. Best case scenario, it's an effect that's pretty "meh." Instead of complementing your skin, it's working against it.

You want to find party dresses in colors that present you in your best light and nothing less.

How Can You Figure Out Your Skin Tone?

The first step to discovering what colors look best on you is figuring out what yourskin toneis. It's not quite as simple as just looking in the mirror.

Your skin tone isn't the color that you see on first glance. For our purposes, skin tone is different than skin color.

There are two main tones that people have: warm and cool. A few people are harder to place and fall into the 'neutral' category.

If your undertones are yellow or golden, you're warm. If they're more on the pink side, you have cool undertones.

Figuring out which one you are is probably easier than you think.

The fastest test is to look at the veins and blood vessels in the inside of your wrists or elbows. (This is where the skin is thinnest, so it's easier to find the veins.)

Do your veins look a little green? That's a good indicator that you're a warm color.

Are you seeing more blue than green? That means you're a cool color.

If you're staring at your skin trying to figure out if it's green or blue that you're seeing and you really can't tell, you're probably a neutral. It just means that you have a mix of both colorings.

For neutrals, your coloring also might change depending on the time of year. To figure out what your color is at any certain time, try the white paper test.

This is just as simple as looking at your veins. All you have to do is get a clean piece of white printer paper and hold it up to your face and chest in the mirror. Then, look closely to see which colors stand out more in your skin when held up next to a stark white piece of paper.

Seeing blue and pink means you're cool-colored. Green and gold are for -- you guessed it -- warm.

If none ofthese testsconvince you, just think of the jewelry you wear most often. Sometimes, we're pretty good at figuring out our undertones without even realizing it.

If you're someone who gravitates towards gold, as you can probably guess, you're a warm color. People with cool tones, on the other hand, tend to like silver better since it complements their skin.

How To Choose The Best Party Dresses For You

First of all, make sure that you're finding a dress that fits your shape. Don't forget that how it's tailored is also important! Even if the dress is a perfect color for you, it won't have the same show-stopping effect if it doesn't fit you the way it's supposed to.

When it comes down to color, there are a range that will suit each skin tone. You can wear party dresses in both the warm and cool categories, just make sure that you're picking the right ones.

We've broken it down by type for you below.

Warm Colored

For warm colors, it's probably easy to figure out what colors you should incorporate into your wardrobe. Go for more warm colors: your standard oranges, yellows, and golds. Those will bring out the natural undertones in your skin and complement your skin in all the best ways.

That doesn't mean to chuck out all of the cool colors in your wardrobe. You should make sure that you're choosing cool colors that are a bit on the warmer side.

If green is your favorite color, party dresses in a shade of olive have the best chance of looking great against your skin. If blue is more your style, go for a deep turquoise for an eye-catching look.

Cool Colored

On the opposite side of the spectrum, you'll obviously need completely different colors. (In fact, it's probably a good idea to just stay away from oranges and yellows altogether.)

Your go-to colors are bright blues, lilacs, or really any jewel tones. They'll look great against your skin. Royal blue and really dark purples are also safe bets. Odds are that you'll know which shade is best for you as soon as you put it on.

As far as warm colors, go, the bad news is that there aren't a lot of warm colors that suit people with cool undertones. If you love pink, though, the good news is that mostshades of pinkwill look great on cool tones.

Your best bet is to find a bright pink, ruby, or a brighter rose color. These would be safe warm colors for you. There are tons of pink party dresses out there, and you can be the head-turner pretty in pink.

Neutral Colored

Neutral colors are probably the luckiest of us all. Because they're a mix of both cool and warm undertones, people with neutral tones can wear basically anything.

Unlike cool and warm undertones, who have colors they specifically need to avoid, neutral undertones just have colors that are not as complementary. If you're a neutral tone, anything overly flashy probably isn't for you. You don't want to drown out the natural coloring of your skin.

What you can wear, though, more than makes up for the few bright colors that you should steer clear of. Neutral-toned folks don't have specific colors in the warm and cool families that they should wear. Just like your skin tone falls in between two major categories, you should also look for colors that are closer to the middle of the spectrum.

All shades of pink are good colors for you, and like the warm-toned folks, you can probably pull off a great olive. Unlike them, though, colors like grey or silver look good on you. Grey washes out people with warm-toned skin, but it's a great...well...neutral for people with neutral tones.

Of course, there are some colors that look good on everyone regardless of their undertones. You usually can't go wrong with black, for example. No matter what skin tone you are, colors likebright redand dark purple are safe bets.

But the best party dresses are the ones that are perfect for you in all the right ways -- and that includes a dress color that makes you look like you have an inner glow.

Find The Dress That's Right For You

Now that you've read this, you're ready to go out and find the party dresses that will make sure you land on the 'best dressed' list anywhere you go.

Luckily, you don't have to go too far to find your next outfit. We have great dresses available in a variety of colors -- so you're sure to find your perfect match no matter what you look like.